'Harry's girl is (almost) straight outta Compton,' is the headline that remains a standout memory for me. When Meghan Markle's relationship with Prince Harry was announced to the public, immediate conversations centred on her race and, like clockwork, the racist stereotypes rolled in. Watching them felt gut-wrenching, and today is no different, watching history be rewritten as social media commentators attempt to invalidate that racism ever played apart in Meghan's experience, after the Duke and Duchess highlighted the scale of it in their new Netflix documentary.
Listen, it's understandable that Harry and Meghan's Netflix documentaryhas stirred up a lot of feelings for the British public. Prince Harry was one of the most favoured members of the Royal Family, an institution Britons have known our whole lives, and now he's very publicly exposing its flaws. But the racism Meghan experienced? That is a vital element surrounding public commentary that it is impossible to ignore.
Over the past day, I have seen viewers express a mountain of different opinions about Meghan - all for different reasons. Of course, disliking her is entirely one's prerogative, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But watching the documentary, and the way in which it contextualises Meghan's experience in the UK, one cannot ignore the fact that race plays a vital element in all of this. To undermine Meghan's experience of racism in the UK is deeply offensive - particularly so, if you have never experienced the effects of it yourself. Believe it or not, it's possible to dislike Meghan while still acknowledging that she has experienced racism in this country.
Just take a look at the headlines, which Meghan talks about in episode two of the documentary. 'Firstly, I’m not from Compton, I’ve never lived in Compton, so it’s factually incorrect,' she says. 'But why do you have to make a dig at Compton?' Other headlines shown in the documentary included 'One’s gone GangstER,' and another saying Meghan’s ancestors were a 'tailor, a teacher and a cleaner in racially divided Jim Crow South.' Speaking about the press coverage, Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, said 'They would take pictures of different parts of, say, Skid Row, and say that is where I lived and that is where she was from.'
Then there's the research. On 4 November 2020 the House of Commons House of Lords Joint Committee on Human Rights released the Black People, Racism and Human Rights report. The report found that the majority (over 75%) of Black people in the UK do not believe their human rights are equally protected compared to white people. This is a damning indictment of our society. While the majority of both men and women do not believe their human rights are equally protected compared to white people in the UK, this is felt far more strongly by women. Over 82% of women disagreed that their human rights are equally protected, compared with 69% of men.
Black women in the UK are four times as likely to die during childbirth compared to white women. Many Black mothers feel like they have been judged by the colour of our skin when accessing healthcare services, both during and after pregnancy. It's a grim picture that some may find hard to believe, but the statistics speak for themselves.
Meghan's own account speaks volumes too, explaining in the documentary that she felt a shift in treatment after moving to the UK. 'At that time, I wasn't thinking about how race played a part in any of this,' she said. 'I genuinely didn't think about it. 'It's very different to be a minority but not be treated as a minority right off the bat...I'd say now, people are very aware of my race because they made it such an issue when I went to the UK. '
'But before that, most people didn't treat me like a "Black woman". So, that talk didn't happen for me,' she added. This is where an element of colourism and the privilege Meghan has being mixed race enters the conversation. To not have needed the 'race talk' is a privilege. For many dark skin Black women, that talk comes at a very young age and shapes their lives. Of course, this does not diminish Meghan's experience of discrimination in the UK.
In the same episode academics Afua Hirsch and David Olusoga noted that British tradition is 'filled with racist imagery' while discussing the country's colonial legacy - and call anti-immigration sentiment in the UK around Brexit a 'cipher for race'. They argue that this racist legacy made it difficult for Meghan to be both assimilated into the Firm and widely accepted by the British public.
Prince Harry himself spoke about what he called the Windsors’ 'unconscious bias' when the documentary showed images of Princess Michael of Kent wearing a blackamoor-style brooch to a Christmas lunch attended by Meghan in 2017, for which she later apologised. 'In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias,' Harry said.
Explaining why he spoke out about the racism his wife endured, for Prince Harry it all came back to his children. 'My son, my daughter, my children are mixed race, and I’m really proud of that,' he said. 'When my kids grow up, and they look back at this moment, and they turn to me and say, "What did you do in this moment?", I want to be able to give them an answer.' This was a very vital statement - all parents want to do is protect their children, and Prince Harry is no different.
But he has also talked about their story - of which the racism Meghan experienced is a crucial element - is about more than just the two of them. That it's about opening up a wider conversation about institutional racism and unconscious bias. Judging by the reaction it's never been needed more.
After all, just a few months ago the nation were united in standing against institutional racism within the Met Policeafter a damningreport by Baroness Casey revealed the scale of 'systematic racism and misogyny.' Last week, many also vehemently disagreed with the treatment of Ngozi Fulaniat Kensington Palace by Lady Hussey. But now that Meghan Markle has highlighted racism issues within this country, suddenly online commentary jumps to 'it's not about race' and 'race never played a factor.' It's always a factor. Racism runs rife in every corner of our society and the quicker people come to grips with this, the better.
To continue to deny the fact that racism is deeply entrenched within our country, just because that statement is coming from a person one may dislike, is deeply wrong. This goes beyond whether or not Meghan is 'likeable' or not, by denying her experience of racism as a Black woman, you are also denying the experiences of thousands of other Black women in the UK.
Ultimately, the fact that the Sussexes have given a platform to these very important issues has created fear about how the country will 'look' on the world stage. They're raising the difficult questions we should've always been asking, questioning Britain's deeply rooted inequality and how our colonial history still prevails (despite the efforts of many trying to bury it).
If anything, people should be reflecting on the issues raised and how we can combat them, rather than using all their energy to refute first-hand accounts of racism. The very crux of the matter is perhaps that facing their bias would force many people in the UK to actually do the work and look inward - and I'm not sure many people are actually ready to do that.